LAGRANGE, Ky. - Inmate number 114523 will walk through that narrow, gray door today. Time to meet the parole board. Can a former priest receive absolution from a horse breeder?
Earl Bierman finds out this afternoon. At 1 p.m., he will step into the drab room at the front of the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange and come face-to-face with those who can set him free:
Theodore Kuster, a Bourbon County thoroughbred breeder; Paul Reece, a retired Louisville police officer; and chairwoman Helen Howard-
Hughes of Lexington, former executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women.
These are the members of Kentucky's parole board who will interview the 65-year-old via teleconference. They'll be in Frankfort; he'll be in prison in LaGrange.
This is the hand Earl Bierman drew. The parole board is seven members strong, but it splits into smaller panels for hearings so the board can be two places at once. It's like that when you conduct more than 11,400 hearings like this each year.
When they're finished listening to Mr. Bierman say he's sorry, they will begin their deliberations. And in the hearing room at LaGrange, the TV will fade and he will be left in silence to wonder how two men and a woman miles away will vote on his life.
Taste of freedom
As he waits, Mr. Bierman will hear the call of the wild. The room where inmates go for their parole hearings isn't a fortress like the cellhouses. Sometimes the wail of a faraway train sneaks in.
The taste of freedom inmates get here drives some crazy when denied. In 1989, one of them stood up and slugged the chairman of the board. Slugged him one, two, three, four, five, six times. The chairman, then a thin, professorial man named John Runda, fell out of his chair.
Now board members sit miles away from the prisoner, which cuts down on the slugging. The last three months, they've been interviewing inmates via teleconference - a change designed to save time and money.
Parole board members, who start at $45,000, have a full-time job. The board is the small end of a funnel. No matter what jury convicts, no matter what judge sentences, this is the group that frees.
Today they will interview 45 inmates eligible for parole, taking a vote immediately after each interview. Only if they vote unanimously for releasing an inmate does he walk - often the very next morning.
There are loose ends to tie up, cells to clean out, parole agreements to sign, meager paychecks for prison work to pick up.
It's a process that grinds on unnoticed each and every day - as you drink your coffee, kiss your kids, fight traffic.
In less time than it takes you to park your car, turn off the engine and get out, the front gate at LaGrange grinds open and someone gains freedom. The system usually works, and nobody pays attention unless someone notorious is up for parole.
Or someone who's released turns out to be a monster.
He is unforgiven
What of Earl Bierman? He was good in prison, earning three merit awards. But he was bad on the outside.
The former teacher at Covington Catholic Latin School sexually abused six boys repeatedly.
His victims, all grown men now, fear he hasn't changed. They're angry he's served only 42 months of a 20-year sentence. Petty thieves get more time.
These things Mr. Bierman's victims told the parole board in a meeting Monday. This former priest, he is unforgiven.
No wonder the case has assumed a life all its own. Ten media outlets will have reporters at the hearing. The story is one of a sacred trust broken. A priest. A teacher. Our children.
Our children.
Today, inmate number 114523 will try to get his name back. But his good name is lost. Rehabilitation is impossible in such a short time. The most Kentucky can give Earl Bierman if he is released this week is his freedom. And, if he wants, a bus ticket.
Maybe the name of your town won't be on the front of the bus. But your best hope lies with a horse breeder, a retired cop and a civic activist.
Will they do their jobs right at the small end of the funnel?
Rob Kaiser is The Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. His column appears on Sundays and Thursdays in The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5584.